Newsletter Issue 11 - January 2008

From the Master

*Dynnargh! from the Isles of Scilly in a January which has brought exquisite calm and sunshine one day and
gales the next, ferocious to the extent of "blowing dogs off chains" as they say down here. Victoria and I
greatly look forward to sharing the Magic of May with those joining the Master's trip and commend as an
overture that captures the charm of the islands the BBC 2 series ‘An Island Parish’ currently showing at 8pm
on Tuesday evenings.

Janus inspires a simultaneous backwards and

forwards glance. I was delighted a number of you
were able to join with 14 Masters at St James's
Palace for the Royal Reception following Great
Britain securing host nation status for Rescue 2010,
the first of several pleasurable occasions, I hope, for
linking the championships to my Master's year.

The Athenaeum Master's Reception and New Year

Court luncheon, and Cornish carols chiming with
Bow Bells are treasured memories of events made
successful by your most splendid support.

Our Janus forward glance must surely focus on the

twin peaks of Mansion House and Milo Lecture.
These are the two occasions in the year when our Company is en fête to the City and the City observes our
purpose and progress as a Modern Company.

First and foremost, our Annual Livery Banquet on 12th March at the Mansion House has former Lord Mayor
and fellow Cornishman Sir David Brewer as our principal guest. His richly deserved reputation as a highly
entertaining speaker needs no advocacy.

Our Milo Lecture evening on 15th April 2008 at Drapers' Hall departs from all such previous events. It is all
expanded and crafted to leave the City in absolutely no doubt our Company is focussed on the future and
can attract world renowned reputations to the Square Mile to debate and excite interest in a desirable future
for our grandchildren. The theme will be access to space, architecture and survival in space - and then the
experience of space and the scientific and global benefits of being there.

I hope you will feel the attached Calling Notices for both events are deserving of your full support which is a
prerequisite to their success and our shared ambition of celebrating cultural diversity and delight.

*Greetings in the Cornish language

www.architects-livery-company.org 1
 the Disability Sector though she is also involved in the
News from the Court care sector from amenity housing through to nursing
and children’s homes. Her current major project is a
multi-sport leisure centre. Sandra has been active as a
The new year meeting of the Court was very much
Committee member of the Glasgow Institute of
about installations and progression within the Comp-
Architects at various times and got to know the City
any. After hearing reports of the three committees,
of London when her husband John was the Master of
learning that the finances were in reasonable order,
the Company of Clothworkers last year. It was through
hearing from the Almoner and Master of Students, and
a meeting with the Immediate Past Master on the
considering the future of the Student Travel Award, the
circuit last year that the happy connection was made
Master was pleased to welcome new Freemen.
with the Company.
Tom French BA MA
Malcolm Bender Dip Arch RIBA
Tom originally joined the Com-
Malcolm is the Senior Director of
pany as a student in 1999 while
PDP Architects - a division of multi-
he was studying for his Part 1
disciplinary PDP Group Limited
Degree at at Newcastle. Having
based in Epsom, Surrey. He trained
acquired his BA in Architectural
and qualified at Regent Street
Studies his year out resulted in
Polytechnic (later Central London
him transfering his allegiance to
Polytechnic) and, in 1986, became a
the surveying profession. He
partner in PDP Architects, for
took up an appointment with
whom, projects have included
Grosvenor Estates and added an MA in Property Val-
headquarters offices for Nortel and
uation and Law to his qualifications. All this meant that
Virgin Atlantic, Virgin's 20,000 sq.m. crew training
he needed to apply to the Court for release from his
centre in Crawley. PDP are also panel architects for
Indentures - his mentor, Geoffrey Purves, was pleased
Volkswagen and Audi and have played a key part in the
to make the necessary recommendation to the Court
redevelopment of the VAG dealer network.
and to second his application for admission as a
Freeman which had been proposed by family friend,
Recreational interests include walking, theatrical set
John Penton.
design, still life photography and golf."
While he has joined the RICS, he was keen to retain his
links to both architecture and the Company. He has
become an Affiliate member of the RIBA and was
delighted that the Company had gained the approval
from the Court of Aldermen to admit some members
from a wider base.

Sandra Papworth BSc Hons RIBA RIAS

While Sandra joins a number of

members from north of the border
she is very familiar with the ways of
the City of London. Her architectural
education was undertaken at the
MacIntosh School and Strathclyde
University. She both lives and works
The other two Freemen admitted had both served out
in Glasgow. She has experience of the private sector, is
their ‘apprenticeships’ with the Company having been
currently a consultant to Borthwick & Watson - her
indentured and the Court having heard thier
husband’s practice - and Architects Arran. Her main
Counsellors’ Testimonies that their studentship was at
employment has been with the Architects Department
an end - this some months after they had seen their
at Renfrewshire Council since 1990. Her speciality is
names added to the ARB Register.

2
Duncan Greenaway BA (Hons) Arch Dip Arch RIBA
Duncan (pictured left) joined the Company in 2000 as a
Student indentured to Past Master David Cole-Adams.
He achieved First Class Honours in his Part 1 at Ports-
mouth and a Distinction in his Diploma at Oxford
Brookes. He was selected as one of BD’s Class of top
Diploma students of 2005 and was on the final shortlist
for the RIBA Silver Medal in the same year. Year Out
experience was gained with Design Engine and Patel
Taylor and post Diploma experience has been with
Assael Architecture where he has worked on a range
of mixed use and residential projects. Among his
completed buildings is a crib designed for St Mary-le-
Bow Church where the Company holds its annual
Carol Service with the Furniture Makers’ Company.
The WCCA commissioned the design for the crib, the
WCFM had the kit of parts manufactured to Duncan’s
specifications in the Master Furniture Maker’s factory.
He is reputed to think that the experience confirmed
his view that architects, while good and fun to work
with, are costly!
Peter Williams BA (Hons) Dip Arch M Phil
Peter was indentured to Counsellor Barry Munday for
the Part 3 section of his architectural training in 2005.
Following his degree at Oxford Brookes University, he
joined Mecanoo in The Netherlands and subsequently
Patel Taylor in London, on a variety of projects over 3
years from a tower in Rotterdam and landscape proj-
ects throughout Europe to one off high-end residential
projects. The experiences at Mecanoo and Patel Taylor
have been a heavy influence in his approach to design
ever since. He undertook his diploma at Cambridge
and remained to complete an M.Phil in Environmental
Design, specialising in the design of environments for
learning. He travelled widely, studying and working in
the USA and Canada, and took up a National Trust
Fellowship in 2003.
He joined architecture plb in Winchester, to build on
his research and undertook a range of projects in the
education sector over two years. In January 2007 Peter
joined Make Architects, where he has been working on
masterplans in Ireland and the UK, as well as a store
concept for a major international bank and the
'Monument', a new commercial development opposite
the Monument to the Great Fire of London in the City.
The Master was delighted to welcome all the new
Freemen and expressed the hope that they would
quickly move to take up their City Freedom and the
Livery of the Company.
Paul Weston and Peter Murray were admitted to
the Livery.
The Master was encouraged to see the growth of the
Company and hoped that he would welcome a stream
of new Freemen and Liverymen through the year.
A decision was taken to follow up on the possible
adoption of the RNLI’s City / Westminster Lifeboat
Station. This was seen as a way of forging closer ties
with our ‘link regiment’ but would not detract from
the tradition of inviting Coxswains from around the
coastline to the Election Court Dinner each year.
There was also agreement to set up an initiative in
connection with the 2012 Olympic Games. A working
party is to be established to progress the ideas.
A proposal to procure the design and production of a
new canopy to replace that which is erected outside
the main entrance to Guildhall on major occasions was
endorsed. It is thought that the Corporation may take
a little time to get used to or accept the notion that
there is much wrong with the existing model.
Obituary
It was with sadness that the Company learned of the
death on 22 January of MAURICE EMMITT
PICKERING FRIBA FLI FFB FRSA (1927 - 2008)
Maurice Pickering was born in Lincolnshire and educ-
ated in Coventry. After his schooling he was involved in
Civil Defence and later commissioned into the Royal
Warwickshire Regiment. After the war he trained as an
architect at Birmingham University before moving to
London to study landscape architecture at University
College London. He set up his London based practice
in 1959.
www.architects-livery-company.org 3
He became actively interested in the City of London in
the early 1970's. He became a Freeman of the City in
1977 and was involved in the founding of the Company
of Constructors - started as the Company of Builders
in 1976. He became the Master in1984 steering the
Company through a name change to becoming a Com-
pany without Livery in 1985 and full Livery status in
1990.
Not content with that, Maurice served as President of
the Faculty of Building in 1983 and became an early
and enthusiastic member of the fledgling Company of
Chartered Architects in 1988. He progressed to bec-
oming a Senior Steward of the Company playing an
active part in guiding the other Company Stewards as
they rose through the ranks on their way to member-
ship of the Court - an honour which would have been
his had it not been for age constraints imposed on the
Company at its foundation. A keen photographer,
Maurice threw his enthusiasm behind and participated
in a City Art Show set up at St Mary-le-Bow Church
and opened by HRH The Duke of Gloucester in 1995.
On other fronts Maurice, a voter in the Farringdon
Ward of the City, became a member of the United
Wards Club and the Royal Society of St George. He
joined the City Livery Club progressing through the
Council to become its President in 2004-05. His civic
interests went beyond the City. He was heavily invol-
ved in the Freemen of England and Wales serving as its
President for a two year spell between 2002 and 2004.
Last year Maurice's contribution as the Founder
Chairman of Harrow Nature Conservation Forum - a
voluntary organization managing some 600 acres of
London's Green Belt in the Borough of Harrow - was
recognized when he was made Honorary Life Vice
President of Harrow Heritage Trust.
That he still found time to run his practice from his
Stanmore home, to be involved in a number of Charity
organizations in and beyond Stanmore and as a Direct-
or of the Heidelberg Award for Environmental Excell-
ence (a triennial global prize which he organized for
the Oberbürgermeisterin der Stadt Heidelberg) and to
be a generous friend and supporter to all his many
friends says much about this extraordinary man. Spare
time was in short supply. When found, it was spent
with his family, in reading history, writing (he was
working on a ground-breaking history of Gilds) and
painting in oils. He will be greatly missed.
Recent Events
The first visit to the ‘Master’s London Beach Hut as he
calls the Athenaeum in Pall Mall saw many members
the Company enjoying both Cornish sparkling wine
and the ambience of the Club at The Master’s
Reception on Tuesday 20 November.
The Master had arranged for the original Decimus
Burton drawings of the building and a selection of
drawings prepared by Charles Barry and others who
had been given the onerous task of making alterations
over the ensuing years available for inspection. There
had also been a talk about the Club by its Secretary
and about the wine from Patricia Stefanowicz who had,
in the preceding months sat on a panel of Masters of
Wine which had been singularly impressed by its
character during a blind tasting which had included top
rated champagnes.
There had also been a Cornish flavour to the Annual
Carol Service at St Mary-le-Bow on Wednesday 12
December with Alan Wilson’s excellent choir singing
the Stratton Carol and Star of Bethlehem - both trad-
itional Cornish carols. The Rev George Bush, clearly
relishing the challenge of preaching to architects and
furniture makers, did so with great style. The supper
which followed at Furniture Makers’ Hall was a
convivial if, again, a crowded gathering. The popularity
of this event grows year on year - note the 2008 date
(Wednesday 10 December) in your diaries now.
At the lunch following the Court - both were held at
the Athenaeum - the Master was pleased to welcome
the Masters of the Masons’, Woolmens’, Lightmongers’
and Basketmakers’ Companies in addition to his prin-
cipal guest, Ken Dwan - Master of the Company of
Watermen and Lightermen, Once again, the Master
had arranged for those present to view a selection of
the famed collection of architectural drawings of the
club premises before the lunch. Not surprisingly,
Cornwall was on the menu - wines and Cornish lamb
featured and it is possible that the potted shrimps also
came from the fabled waters off ‘sunny Bude’! The
Master Waterman gave a highly entertaining speech
covering his and his family’s connection with the
Thames. He had been a past winner of the Doggett
Coat and Badge race,had represented Great Britain as
an oarsman in two Olympic Games and had served as
4
one of the youngest of the Queen’s Watermen and the
Queen’s Bargemaster. He kept a full house well
entertained and was, he said, pleased to be present on
an occasion which clearly (and surprisingly for archit-
ects) have a nautical flavour. Among the Master’s
personal guests were a number of his colleagues from
the RNLI and the Surf Lifesaving Great Britain Rescue
2010 Bid Delivery Team.
Coming Events
As this newsletter goes to print, the Master will be
setting off with a group of members and friends of the
Company on the annual architectural study tour -
this tme to the Deccan area of Central India. There
will be a detailed report in a future edition.
There are places available for those wishing to attend
the United Guilds Service on Friday 7 March at St
Paul’s Cathedral. This very special occasion inn the
City civic’s annual calendar is followed by a lunch at
Plaisterers’ Hall as guests of their Master. Tickets for
the lunch are available at a cost of £45.00 per head..
Notices have ben sent out for the Annual Livery
Banquet which returns again this year to the Mansion
House on Wednesday 12 March. The principal guest
will be the Master’s Cornish compatriot - Alderman Sir
David Brewer who served as Lord Mayor in 2005-06.
This years Peter Milo Memorial Lecture will be at
Drapers’ Hall on Tuesday 15 April. In a departure
from its format in recent years the lecture will follow
the next meeting of the Court with the evening being
made up of two separate elements. A lecture given by
David Nixon (the British architect and principal of
Altus Associates in Los Angeles) will talk on ‘Architect-
ure in Orbit - The International Space Station’ will be
charged at the normal RIBA Lecture series rates -
£12.00 per head or £8.00 for students. This will be
followed by a subscription dinner in the Hall at which
there will be further illustrated talks given by Will
Whitehorn - President of Virgin Galactic and Grant
Brooker of Foster and Partners on ‘Spaceport America’
and ‘Space for Everyone’ and, finally, by Astronaut and
Oceanographer Dr Paul Scully Power on ‘earth from
Space’. The event is being arranged on behalf of the
Company by William Murray and Wordsearch and full
details and costs will be sent our shortly.
There are still a few places available for the Master’s
Weekend Trip to the Isles of Scilly - Friday - Mon-
day, 16 -19 May. A further calling notice is attached.
It is hoped that dates will shortly be found in June for a
lunchtime talk on the Ardwina with any surplus going
as a donation to the RNLI and for a visit (probably on a
Sunday) to North Weald Airfield Museum. This latter
event will be priced so as to encourage members to
bring children where appropriate.
The Annual Service and Election Court Dinner
will be held on Tuesday 8 July- details of the venue
and the speaker will be resolved shortly.
The Installation Court Lunch will be on Tuesday
16 September at Salters’ Hall - designed by Sir Basil
Spence with David Hicks interiors.
The Annual Service of Christmas Carols will take place
at St Mary-le-Bow on Wednesday 10 December. There
will be a supper to follow the service but details are
still to be resolved.
Advance notice is given of the 2009 Architectural
Study Trip to West Coast USE featuring visits to
Phoenix, Arizona (for Taliesan West), Los Angeles and
San Francisco. Details and costs will be circulated in
the coming months but timing has been more or less
established as 15 April to 1/2 May 2009.
Growing the Trust Fund
At the Court meeting on 21 January the Trustees of the
Company’s Charitable Trust reported concern at the
lack of regular giving by a majority of the Company’s
membership. Individual generosity was gratefully ack-
nowledged, but those not contributing were reminded
that charitable giving is a duty of all in the Company.
It has been identified that in some instances, former
covenant undertakings and standing orders in favour of
the Trust have become defunct and their renewal has
been overlooked. The Trustees will write to each
member of the Company in the near future with an
appeal for regular charitable giving.
www.architects-livery-company.org 5

Supporting the Master- Rescue 2010
You will have noted the Master’s involvement in
attracting the Lifesaving World Championships to the
UK in 2010. He headed up the Bid and is now involved
as Chairman of the team that has to ensure the
delivery of the Championships which
will,unsurprisingly, to be held in Cornwall. The event,
which very much falls into the category of ‘sport with a
purpose’ will be the largest gathering of sportsmen
outside of the Olympics available to Great Britain
before 2012. It is possible that the facilities created for
the games will find use in 2012 as training facilities for
one of the teams visiting the country for the Olympics.
The success of the Bid, which had been kick started by
Alderman Sir David Brewer during his year as Lord
Mayor, was acknowledged at a reception at St James’s
Palace hosted by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh. The
Master was pleased to welcome no fewer than eleven
Masters or senior representatives of other Companies
to the reception and to have the support of Company
members -a couple of whom are photographed below.
Visit to York Guild of Building
Along with fostering relations with other Companies in
London, the WCCA maintains a dialogue with the York
Guild of Building which was established during the
Mastership of Peter Dale who subsequently became its
Master. Jaki Howes is also a member of the Guild. Each
year their Master and Clerk are invited as guests of the
Company to attend our Livery banquet and each year
they reciprocate and kindly invite others of our mem-
bers to attend their annual awards Dinner. In Novem-
ber, a sizeable party from the Company made the trek
north and enjoyed generous hospitality in the fabulous
surroundings of Merchant Adventurers’ Hall - one of
the finest examples of a medieval guildhall surviving
anywhere in Europe and completed in 1360.
The Master & Past
Master Alan
Downing and their
wives made a
weekend of it and
stayed for the
Guild’s annual
service on the
Sunday. Pictured
here are the Master, his Lady and Alan Downing with
the Lord Mayor of York - some resplendent in hats
though the Master forsook the chance to wear his!
Blog Spot
Howard Copping has been spending some of his leis-
ure time setting up a Company web-log or Blog. Not
an attractive word; perhaps off putting to those who
share the view that the world wide web is hardly a
force for good when the use of the English language is
concerned. Sadly, while the site under development it
suffers further by being called a Blogspot. Sounds a bit
like road kill!
Not withstanding this, it is a most useful tool for the
Company’s members. It can be updated easily and
frequently by the Clerk, is more readily accessible and
can provide an almost day to day commentary on what
is happening in the Company. What is more, it is
interactive - that is, you can get to respond to
comments posted and, so long as your remarks pass
the censors pen, they hit the airwaves pretty quickly.
The blog site acts as an adjunct to the main web-site of
the Company. It is hoped that you will check it out
and respond and interact. Let the Clerk know if you
find it helpful or, indeed, if there is anything you would
like posted on the site.
The Clerk: 82, Muswell Hill Road, London N10 3JR
Ph / Fax: 020 8292 4893
email: wccaclerk@blueyonder.co.uk
www.architects-livery-company.org 6